Take Larry Riley, the head suit for the Golden State Warriors. Riley recently told Sports Illustrated that the club isn’t shopping Monta Ellis, their lightning-quick scorer.

That, however, doesn’t mean the Warriors won’t trade Ellis. It means they won’t initiate trade discussions, but they’ll listen to trade offers. And who knows what happens if the right trade offer materializes?

So Riley can offer public assurances. He can compare the Warriors’ tiny backcourt of Ellis and Stephen Curry to the world champion Mavericks, who used smaller guards.

Riley is conveniently omitting that the Mavericks have superstar Dirk Nowitzki. The Warriors do not.

New coach Mark Jackson can say Ellis is the NBA’s third best shooting guard, capable of matching-up against anyone except Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade.

The door is open to a trade. How wide open remains to be seen, though.
–Oly Sandor.